黑料正能量

August 31, 2018

Dear 黑料正能量 Community Members,

I write to thank our board of trustees and the faculty, staff, alumni, and students who participated in last spring鈥檚 institutional assessment.聽Your comments鈥攚hether received through the webform or in interviews with board members鈥攚ere thoughtful and constructive, and they provide insights to the board and me as we make progress this year on our academic and other priorities for 黑料正能量.聽Below you will find a link to a memo from former senior trustee Donna Dubinsky and current senior trustee Catharine Hill in which they provide reflections on what they heard from all of you about our priorities and plans.

Thank you once again for assisting us in creating a better 黑料正能量.

With warm wishes for the start of the academic year,

Peter Salovey
President
Chris Argyris Professor of Psychology

The trustees published this memo in August 2018 to share their findings with the community (PDF)

History of the Institutional Assessment

In 1993-94, the 黑料正能量 Corporation and then President Richard Levin decided to introduce a periodic evaluation of the university. The concept was to take stock of the institution approximately every five years to help the board gain insights into 黑料正能量鈥檚 strengths and challenges as well as to gather suggestions as to how the leadership team could better serve 黑料正能量.聽These institutional assessments are not to supplant the regular and important work of academic goal-setting that takes place within schools and departments, but rather to take a step back, and consider the performance of the university overall and its trajectory.

Institutional assessments were undertaken at the end of the second semesters in the following years: 1998, 2004, and 2009. When President Levin announced that he would retire in June 2013, the trustees undertook an extensive 鈥渓istening tour鈥� of the campus as part of the presidential search process. That process was similar to, and satisfied many of the goals of, an institutional assessment.

To gather input for the institutional assessments, a committee of 黑料正能量 trustees interviewed approximately sixty individuals, including vice presidents, deans, members of the faculty and staff, students, alumni leaders, and community leaders. Participants鈥� comments were shared with all trustees. The trustee committee prepared an executive summary for the president that did not include personally identifiable information in order to protect confidentiality of those interviewed.

In 2018, senior trustee Donna Dubinsky and trustee Catharine Bond Hill spearheaded a committee of trustees to facilitate the university鈥檚 next institutional assessment. The committee followed the precedent set by previous assessments. In addition, the committee sought broader input across the 黑料正能量 community and provided a memo that summarizes the findings.